Middle School Robotics Spring of 2018 - Wrap Up.

My goal for this class was to give the middle school kids a taste of what it is like to build a FIRST level robotics project.  I'm prepared to call this a success.  Oh, there were some things that did not click.  The idea of building a robot with sensors and encoders, then having kids program for autonomous function was just a bit too much. We did have a FIRST drive frame and got a couple of kids tinkering with the real basics....drive ahead at such percent power for so many seconds....but the nature of software development is that it is hard to teach and given the logistics of an after school program and this age group, probably too much to shoot for.

To that end the idea of having a larger class on Tuesday doing mechanical and a smaller one on Thursday doing software was discarded almost from the start.  With software often stalled or at a point where perhaps one kid at a time could be taught the other kids on Thursday helped with the mechanical stuff.  And enjoyed it.  If I do this again it will be two medium sized groups and we'll blend hardware and software as we go along.

But there were plenty of things learned that were direct analogs of FIRST.

Last minute pit crew work.  As we drove out to show off the robot's functions it was noted that the left rear drive motor was not working.   With some supervision they had this swapped out in under ten minutes.

They also learned, I think, a bit about improvisation.  When the drive software continued to be difficult with regards to firing the dispensing mechanisms we simply swapped on a second control system, the obsolete one that we had used for test purposes.  With one student driving the robot and the other operating the pivot, solenoid and servo gate they attained reasonable operational competence in short order.

As the Tuesday group tidied up at the end of the day I asked them to come up with five ways that a project of this sort could encounter difficulties.  Their answers:

-Wire/connection issues
-Mechanical (motor) failure
-software issues
-User (student) error

I added Instructor error.  When the base level of skill is low it is inevitable that the project will be more directed by the teachers, and there were a few things I got wrong.

I'll finish with a few more photos and a couple short video clips.  I never know how well the latter turn out.   We expect to see several of these middle schoolers on the FIRST team in the near future, and while their technical skills are still rudimentary it is to be hoped that they have "learned how to learn" and will be formidable roboteers a few years down the road.

Carton dispenser loaded and ready.

Taking robot for a walk.  OK, basically just looking for classes to interrupt by driving in the door and handing out chocolate milk.  Which we then took back again!